The Replacement No1
by Ze Ultimate Fanfic Writer
Summary: Seconds before The Rachel rams the Blade Ship, Jake faints. And when he wakes up, he is 11, sitting in a compartment of the Hogwarts Express. The other Animorphs excluding Ax are with him. He has yet to find out why he is here. R&R please.


The Replacement

**JAKE**

My name is Jake.

Jake Berenson, actually.

Let's get to the point. I was in the ship, _The Rachel_ after the war when we saw a Blade ship. I gave the order to ram _The Rachel_ into the Blade ship.

But suddenly, when the ships were inches away from each other, I fainted.

And when I woke up, I was sitting up on a...

"Train?"

I woke up at once. I was sitting in a compartment in a train. Around me were four 11-year old kids. But they looked familiar. I recognized the girl sitting next to me. She was slim and had long blonde hair, and was staring out of the window. She was, in fact...

"Rachel!" I called.

She jumped up and stared at me.

"Jake!" she said. "What are we doing here? What am _I_ doing here? And why are you eleven?"

That jolted me out of my senses. I looked down at my hands. They were small and soft. When I looked out of the window, I saw my 11-year-old self.

"Rachel, you are eleven too." She jumped up a second time and looked at her reflection in the window. Yep, that pretty much settled it.

I looked at the other three children in front of me. They were...

"Marco? Cassie? Tobias?"

They all jumped too.

"Jake! Rachel!" Cassie said. "You're... too young."

"Yeah, we know, duh," Rachel said sarcastically. "You guys are, too." Marco, Tobias, and Cassie looked down at themselves and yelped.

"I'm eleven!" Cassie yelled.

"I'm eleven too!" Tobias gasped.

"I'm eleven three!" Marco yelped.

"Marco," Rachel sighed. "Eleven or not, you are still not funny."

"Heh heh," Marco tried to laugh.

"Why are we here?" Rachel asked. "I'm supposed to be... I dunno, dead."

"You are," Tobias croaked. Then he hugged Rachel.

"Can you morph?" I asked Cassie.

"I can try," she said and focused. Suddenly, huge fly eyes popped out of her head. Then she demorphed.

"Yup," Cassie said. "I can morph."

"What about Tobias? Tobias?" I demanded.

Tobias focused too, and feathers sprouted from his face and skin.

"I guess I can morph," Tobias said.

Yes, and after a bit of trying, everyone could morph.

"Tobias, are you in morph or demorphed?" I asked.

"Erm... demorphed, I think," he said.

"Thank goodness," Rachel and I said at the same time.

"Hey, look at this," I said. Each of us had a bag of luggage at our feet. For Rachel, two.

"What's in this?" Rachel asked and opened one of her trunks. It was full of clothes. They were kids' sizes, but yeah, stylish. Good old Rachel.

"Hey, I remember these jeans!" she said, pulling out a pair. "My mom bought them for me when I was ten, and this jumper..."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, we know, Rachel. You're a fashion victim. Good God, you were a fashion victim when you were eleven?!" Marco said.

Suddenly, an idea entered my head. It was totally crazy and unbelievable, but I knew it was true.

"Guys," I said. "I think I know where we are and where we're going."

"Really? Where?" Marco asked, eyebrow raised.

I took a deep breath and begin, "We're going to a place called Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, in England."

"Nah. No way. You're nuts." Marco said.

"Shut up, Marco. Listen to him," Rachel said. Good old Rachel.

I continued. "The year is 1991, and we're... wizards" (I gestured to myself, Marco, and Tobias) "and witches" (I gestured to Cassie and Rachel) "transferring to Hogwarts."

They all stared at me like I was a madman.

"No. Way." Tobias said.

"It's crazy," Cassie said quietly. "But it's true."

"Yeah, it is!" Marco said.

Wait, _Marco_? Marco, _the_ Marco said it was true?

"I mean, I know it's true. I just know." He explained.

"So do I," Rachel and Tobias said at the same time.

I suddenly had another idea.

"Guys," I said. "Open your trunks."

We all did. The first to discover it was Rachel.

"Hmm. What's this thing?" she asked, examining the long, thin stick.

"It's a magic wand," I said matter-of-factly. I took out mine.

"Dragon heartstring, eleven inches, pliable, oak, great for Defense Against the Dark Arts." Don't ask me how I knew. I just knew.

"Unicorn hair, twelve and a half inches, supple, mahogany, great for Charms." Rachel said, as if reciting something she had learned at school.

"Dragon heartstring, nine inches, bendy, cherry, suitable for Care of Magical Creatures." Cassie chanted.

"Phoenix feather, eleven and a quarter inches, bendy, maple, excellent at Astronomy." Tobias whispered.

"Unicorn hair, ten and a half inches, pliable, cherry, good at Transfiguration." Marco said.

"Er... what the?" Rachel said.

"Yeah, that was weird," I agreed.

Just then, the compartment door slid open and a woman with a trolley came in. The trolley was loaded with snacks, and many of them, no, ALL of them, were ones that I had never seen before.

"There, tuck in," she said in a British accent. "First years, all transferring from America, you must be a bit confused."

A bit confused? Heck, no. I was a LOT confused. Nah, that's not it. I was OVERWHELMED!

"Yeah, we're pretty confused," Cassie said sweetly.

"Do you want anything?" the woman asked.

I pulled out a bag of money from my trunk. There were huge gold coins called Galleons, silver coins called Sickles, and tiny bronze coins called Knuts.

I just knew.

We bought a little bit of everything, some things more than others. There were jars of beans with 'BERTIE BOTT'S EVERY FLAVOR BEANS' on the labels, sticks of licorice that looked like wands, chocolate frogs with cards in them, pumpkin pasties, blowing gum, etc. etc. etc. We all pooled for the stuff.

When the woman had gone, apparently selling to children in other compartments, I smiled.

"Dig in."

They were delicious! Each jellybean tasted different, one tasted like strawberry, another like licorice, another like paper. The chocolate frogs had cards in them with pictures that moved. (Mine had a picture of an old man called Albus Dumbledore.) I was slightly taken aback, but I knew they were magical pictures. The licorice wands were what I had expected, licorice wands.

"Hey, this is cool!" Marco said, munching on his Bertie Bott's Beans. "This tastes like... Swiss cheese, and this tastes like... Hork-Bajir. Eeew."

"How do you know what a Hork-Bajir tastes like?" Cassie asked skeptically, swallowing a bite of her pumpkin pasty. Marco chose not to answer.

"These things are pretty cool," Rachel said, having just finished a chocolate frog and looking at the cards. "Hey, these things move!"

A whistle blew and a voice said that the train was nearing Hogwarts and we should put on our school robes. I searched for them in my trunk and found them easily, next to a bag of disgusting things which I guessed were Potions ingredients. They were black and fit quite well. Everyone else's looked pretty much the same, except for Rachel. Her robes were not very different from everyone else's, but she, as always, looked stunning.

For some 30 minutes, we sat in our compartment in our robes, chatting freely and swapping Chocolate Frog cards. Then, with the whistle, we jumped off the train, with a number of other students, young and old. (We left our luggage; the whistle had said that it would be transported to the school separately.) I saw a boy with messy black hair, glasses, and a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead who looked just as confused as us.

Suddenly, Cassie whispered to me, "That's Harry Potter!"

"Harry Potter?" I whispered back, blindly.

"You know, the guy that vanquished You-Know-Who."

"I know who? I _don't_ know who."

Cassie just looked dumb. "You-Know-Who, that evil guy who liked killing Muggles – non-magical people and stuff."

"How do you know?" I asked.

"I don't know, I just... know." Cassie said.

Then I heard a shout that sounded a bit like grunting. "Firs' years over here! Firs' years!"

We knew that 'first years' included us, and I, Cassie, Marco, Rachel, and Tobias went over.

The caller had been an enormous man called Hagrid, whom I later learned was Keeper of Keys and Game at Hogwarts. He was HUGE – probably three or four times taller than the eleven-year old me myself that very moment. We followed him through a very narrow path, and many people (including me) kept stumbling and tripping over things that I hoped were tree roots. As we approached a bend, Hagrid called out, "Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec. Just round this bend here," After we narrowed the bend, the narrow path suddenly widened into the huge shore of a lake, and beyond it was, perched on a mountain top, a huge, gleaming castle, with towers and that kind of stuff. _A medieval castle,_ my giddy mind thought. Many people shouted, "Ooooooh!"

"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid shouted, gesturing to a little fleet of boats at the shore.

"You think it'll be okay to jump in, morph dolphin, and swim there by myself? That way you, Marco, Tobias, and Cassie can ride in the same boat," Rachel whispered to me. "Don't do anything rash," I whispered back.

I crawled into one boat with Rachel, Marco, and Tobias while Cassie rode a boat with two twin girls and a girl with blond pigtails.

"Everyone in?" Hagrid asked. "Right then – FORWARD!"

And the fleet of boats moved forward by their own accord. Nobody was rowing or anything. We all stared in awe at the bottom of our boat that was gliding silently across the smooth, black lake, and I saw Rachel was doing so too. Then I looked up, and saw the huge medieval-looking castle overhead. I couldn't help but drop my jaw. I think the others did too. It loomed closer and closer as we neared the cliff which it stood upon.

"Heads down!" Hagrid said as the first boats neared the cliff, and we bent our heads as a curtain of ivy passed over our heads. The next place we went through was a long, dark tunnel that looked as if it was directly under the castle, and then we reached something like a harbor. We clambered out onto dry land, covered with rocks and pebbles. There we were joined with Cassie. Then we traversed over a passageway set in a rock, and finally we stumbled onto smooth, damp grass. The feeling was wonderful. Then I turned my head and saw Hogwarts itself, and we were only tiny ants caught in the castle's huge shadow. I must say that I felt really small.

Finally, we walked up a flight of stone steps and rounded up in front of a huge wooden door. Hagrid knocked on the door with his huge fist three times, and the door swung open. Behind it was a tall, elderly, black-haired woman in green robes. She looked like my mother when she was angry.

"The first' years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid.

"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here." Professor McGonagall said, and opened a door. Cassie stifled a gasp.

The entrance hall was HUGE! Our whole house could have fitted into it, and left room for Cassie's barn too. As I was looking around, I saw Marco gaping at the hall, his mouth slightly open.

I didn't blame him.

McGonagall led us up a flight of marble stairs and into a small, empty chamber off the hall. It was a bit crowded, and Cassie pressed into me, her face rather close to mine. I could feel her breath on my cheek.

McGonagall broke the silence by saying, "Welcome to Hogwarts. The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room.

"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule-breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."

I smoothed my hair down. Rachel was trying to comb her hair with her fingers and put on make-up with a powder compact she had whipped out of her pocket.

"If you haven't noticed, Miss Universe, it's not a beauty contest," Marco said with a serious face but with dancing eyes. Rachel elbowed him in the ribs.

"If you don't _shut up _I'm going to put makeup on you," Rachel said with gritted teeth.

"I shall return when we are ready for you," said McGonagall, who appeared to have either not heard the dialogue between Rachel and Marco or ignored it. "Please wait quietly." And she walked out silently.

"How do are we sorted into houses?" Everyone asked each other at the same time.

"Maybe we have to perform magic in front of people," Rachel said.

"Maybe we have to tell the funniest joke," Marco suggested.

"Maybe we have to draw straws," I suggested feebly.

"Maybe we have to morph," Tobias and Cassie said at the same time.

Suddenly, about twenty ghosts glided in through the walls. Cassie, Rachel, and Marco screamed. My hair stood on end, but Tobias seemed to have either not noticed or not cared.

The ghosts were pearly-white and half transparent. They were chattering to themselves, barely noticing us. The ghost of a fat little monk was arguing with a ghost wearing a ruff and tights.

"He has no sense of fashion," Rachel whispered to us.

"Yes, yes, we know, mighty Xena, about your supreme sense of fashion," Marco said in a singsong voice.

"Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance–" the ghost monk said.

"My dear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not even really a ghost – I say, what are you all doing here?"

For the ghost in a ruff and tights had suddenly noticed us.

Nobody answered. I would have, but I wasn't even sure of my own name then.

"New students!" the ghost monk said, beaming. "About to be Sorted, I suppose?"

A few people nodded silently. Tobias was one of them.

"Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!" Ghost Monk said. " My old house you know."

At that time, the door opened an McGonagall appeared. "Move along now," she said. "The Sorting Ceremony's about to start." Silently, the ghosts floated through the wall.

"Now form a line," McGonagall commanded. "And follow me."

I became aware that there were goose bumps on my arms. Hugging myself tightly, I lined up obediently with Rachel in front of me and Cassie behind me. McGonagall lead us through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall itself.

I gaped at it. There was no ceiling, and candles hung suspended in mid-air! Tobias whispered in my ear, "It's magic. It's supposed to look like the sky." Then he passed on the message to the others. I guess he just... knew, like we had all 'known'.

The four long tables (I assumed there were for each of the four houses) were laid with golden plates and goblets, all empty. At the back of the hall was a long table, where only adults were sitting. "Teachers," Cassie whispered into my ear. The chair in the middle was the biggest and most elaborate, and sitting on it was somebody familiar...

"That's Albus Dumbledore! He was on that Chocolate Frog card," I whispered to Marco, who merely nodded, and whispered back to me, "He's the headmaster –didn't you know?"

McGonagall led us to the front of the teachers' table, so we were facing all the other students and the teachers were behind us. Here and there, ghosts floated above the students, whose faces looked pale in the candlelight.

McGonagall silently placed a wooden stool next to her and put a very old, torn-up hat that seemed like it was bought or stolen from a museum on it.

"What the..." Cassie whispered. This time, nobody supported an answer as to what the hat and the stool was.

Suddenly, the hat burst into song, and the thoughts I had while the hat was singing are in brackets.

"_Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,"_ ("I agree, hat")

"_But don't judge on what you see,_

_I'll eat myself if you can find_

_A smarter hat than me."_ ("There's no danger in that then")

"_You can keep your bowlers black,_

_Your top hats sleek and tall, For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat_

_And I can cap them all."_ ("I don't doubt it.")

"_There's nothing hidden in your head_

_The Sorting Hat can't see,"_ ("I'd bet a dollar on that")

"_So try me on and I will tell you_

_Where you ought to be." _("I just want to go back home.")

"_You might belong in Gryffindor_

_Where dwell the brave at heart_

_Their daring, nerve, and chivalry_

_Set Gryffindors apart;_

_You might belong in Hufflepuff,_

_Where they are just and loyal,_

_Those patient Hufflepuffs are true_

_And unafraid of toil;_

_Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,_

_If you've a ready mind,_

_Where those of wit hand learning,_

_Will always find their kind;_

_Or perhaps in Slytherin_

_You'll make your real friends,_

_Those cunning folk use any means_

_To achieve their ends."_ ("Er... what?!")

"_So put me on! Don't be afraid!" _("I _am _afraid.")

"_And don't get in a flap!_

_You're in safe hands (though I have none)_

_For I'm a Thinking Cap!"_ ("I would have guessed that.")

Everyone burst into applause as the Sorting Hat garbled out the last word of his song. I half-heartedly joined in.

McGonagall stepped forward, holding a very long piece of parchment, and said, "When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted. Abbott, Hannah!"

A girl with blonde pigtails stumbled out from the group, put the hat on, and sat down on the stool. After a pause, the hat bellowed, "HUFFLEPUFF!"

Hannah Abbot scooted down to the table on the right, which was cheering and clapping loudly. Ghost Monk was waving at her.

"Berenson, Jake!" McGonagall called out.

My heart pounding in my ears, I stepped up to the stool and sat down. The Sorting Hat was placed on my head, and it whispered in my ear, "Hmm, where shall I put you in? I see you were the leader of your little group... Yes, you thought I wouldn't know that, would you? Ah, don't be surprised. I told you, there's nothing I don't know. Hmm, so you condemned your cousin to possible death, did you? I see you would belong in Gryffindor very nicely, but also a sharpness of mind – which wouldn't be too bad in Ravenclaw. Strong sense of responsibility, have you? And... I see you value your family more than anything else. Well then, you'd better be in... GRYFFINDOR!"

A wave of relief washed over me and I hurried over to the table that was clapping the most. I sat down promptly at a seat at the far end of the table, where there weren't many people.

Next was "Berenson, Rachel." I knew what house it was, but I crossed my fingers anyway, and what I had expected happened. As soon as the Sorting Hat touched Rachel's long blonde hair, it cried out, "GRYFFINDOR!"

I clapped heartily while Rachel came over to my end and promptly sat across from me.

"Bones, Susan" was again sorted into Hufflepuff, "Boot, Terry" into Ravenclaw, "Brocklehurst, Mandy" into Ravenclaw again, "Brown, Lavender" into Gryffindor, "Bulstrode, Millicent" into Slytherin... and McGonagall called from her list, "Fangor, Tobias!"

The Sorting Hat was placed on his head, and when I dropped a spoon accidentally by banging on it with my elbow, I caught a glimpse of Rachel crossing her fingers under the table.

She got her wish, and the Sorting Hat yelled "GRYFFINDOR" once more. Tobias sat down next to Rachel.

"Finch-Fletchley, Justin" - Hufflepuff, "Finnigan, Seamus" – Gryffindor... Ah, "Glenwood, Cassie." I crossed my fingers behind my back, and yes! she came down to our end of the table and sat down on my left.

"Granger, Hermione" – Gryffindor, "Longbottom, Neville" – Gryffindor, "MacDougal, Morag" – I forgot, "Malfoy, Draco" – Slytherin...

I lost count, until...

"Sanchez, Marco!"

He was sorted into Gryffindor too, and sat down on my right.

Finally, after "Zabini, Blaise" was sorted into Slytherin, McGonagall took scroll and hat away.

Then, I saw Dumbledore standing up. He said, "Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!"

"Nitwit?" I asked.

"Blubber?" Cassie repeated.

"Oddment?" Rachel whispered.

"Tweak?" Tobias frowned.

"Chicken?!" Marco gasped.

And it was true; the empty plates in front of us were suddenly piled with food. Steaks, fried chicken, pork chops, lamb chops, sausages, bacon, carrots, peas and potatoes, pudding, and something that I recognized as peppermint humbugs. I eyed them carefully. Despite all the snacks we had eaten in the train, we were all hungry, so all five of us heartily dug in.

"Vewy nife, but I voud haff been moww pweesed if theww were sum beowgus," Marco blurted out as he was stuffing chicken, potatoes, pudding, and sausages into his already full mouth. At that time, I had had no idea what he had said, and to this day, I still don't know.


End file.
